Castor Beans: IMSBC Code Schedule and Carriage
The CASTOR BEANS UN 2969 schedule under the IMSBC Code, and the three companion castor entries the Appendix 4 index marks as prohibited from carriage in bulk.
CASTOR BEANS UN 2969 is a Group B cargo whose hazard is toxicity rather than self-heating: the seed carries ricin, and the dust produced during handling is both toxic and a respiratory sensitizer. The schedule sets the handling, personal protection and segregation regime that follows from that.
What makes the castor entries worth reading together is that three of the four are refused outright. CASTOR FLAKE, CASTOR MEAL and CASTOR POMACE UN 2969 are each marked in the Appendix 4 index as carriage in bulk prohibited, while the whole beans may be carried under their schedule. The full article will cover the schedule in detail and set out why the processed forms are treated differently, which turns on the dust fraction and the concentration of the toxic constituent after pressing.
It will also cover the practical documentation point: because the four names sit adjacent in the index and differ by one word, a shipper’s declaration naming the wrong one is both a compliance failure and, in three of the four cases, a declaration of a cargo the ship may not load at all.